Tawny ports

[Cohiba Stevie]

So as i am in portugual i figured i may aswell grab some nice bottles of port to have with future smokes.

The liquor shops are very well stocked as you can imagine, are there any particular brands or ages i should be looking for? What do you guys reccomend?

As always Ken your council would be appreciated also.

Thanks guys.

[Tino]

So as i am in portugual i figured i may aswell grab some nice bottles of port to have with future smokes.

The liquor shops are very well stocked as you can imagine, are there any particular brands or ages i should be looking for? What do you guys reccomend?

As always Ken your council would be appreciated also.

Thanks guys.

I'm a big fan of Tawny Port:

Unlike Vintage Port they don't need decanting

They last longer once opened

They work really well chilled

They're already aged so are ready to drink

There are a few different categories

Basic "Tawny" is rarely worth bothering with, it's not aged enough to give the character of Tawny Port and is sometimes just a blend of red and white Port to achieve the desired colour.

Reserve Tawny (min 7 years old) can be good value and a good introduction to the style

Tawny gets interesting in the aged 10yr, 20yr, 30yr and 40yr old categories. Generally they get less fruity as they age and develop more complex dried fruit and spice flavours.

The 20 year old Tawny category is (for me) a really good combination of flavour and price. There are lots of great producers, including Taylor, Ramos Pinto, Quinta do Noval, Warre and Niepoort to name a few. I have a particular soft spot for Ramos Pinto because I spent a week there working the harvest in 2005.

You might also see Tawny Ports labelled as "Colheita" - These come from a single grape harvest and will have the vintage on the bottle. I don't have much experience with these but some producers to look for are Burmester, Calem, Ferreira and Kopke.

[Habana Mike]

Nice info Tino

I find I prefer the tawnies to the rubys or LBV though I have enjoyed a few vintage ports as well.

[Cohiba Stevie]

Excellent info tino, thank you very much.

So i can definitley chill a tawny port?

[Tino]

Excellent info tino, thank you very much.

So i can definitley chill a tawny port?

Absolutely, they also keep for longer stored in the fridge once open. How chilled to serve them is a matter of personal taste, I prefer 10 year old from the fridge and older ones lightly chilled/closer to room temperature.

[Ken Gargett]

tino has it covered pretty much. warres, taylors are two pretty good ones. if the budget can handle it, 30 and 40 year old tawnies amazing but 10 and 20 can be very good. the 20 and 30's are a good combo of quality and often the value.

colheitas are an oddity these days, effectively a vintage tawny. but they do age amazingly well. i have seen them going back over a century so worth a look if you find them.

one thing - if your experience of tawny ports is based on the aussie versions, ours are much sweeter than the portuguese ones so make certain you are happy with that.

love visiting portugal and if you possibly can, get up to oporto and spend some time there. wonderful city. and then definitely head up into the duoro around pinhao. spectacular stuff. wonderful people and fun.

[JimC]

Just started drinking Porto. Good info thanks for sharing!

What cigars go best with tawny ports?

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[Troels]

Just started drinking Porto. Good info thanks for sharing!

What cigars go best with tawny ports?

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I'm not very experiences with neither cigars nor port (love both tho), but partagas seems the best match for me

[Tino]

Partagas is a good shout, I think most Bolivar and Ramon Allones would work too?

[TM-US]

I'm not a big port drinker, but tawny ports definitely work for me, especially paired with a good cigar. I find that the sweetness of the port definitely needs a stronger cigar, though. Otherwise, the flavor of the port can overwhelm the cigar.

My go-to tawny port is the Taylor Fladgate 10 yr. I'm not a fan of LBV ports and don't have much experience with vintage ports. I like the price point of the 10 yr. I've tried most of the big name tawny ports and always come back to the Taylor Fladgate. Maybe not the most interesting, but a very pleasant drink and not super-expensive, like some of the stuff over 20 yrs. old.

[Cohiba Stevie]

I'm not a big port drinker, but tawny ports definitely work for me, especially paired with a good cigar. I find that the sweetness of the port definitely needs a stronger cigar, though. Otherwise, the flavor of the port can overwhelm the cigar.

My go-to tawny port is the Taylor Fladgate 10 yr. I'm not a fan of LBV ports and don't have much experience with vintage ports. I like the price point of the 10 yr. I've tried most of the big name tawny ports and always come back to the Taylor Fladgate. Maybe not the most interesting, but a very pleasant drink and not super-expensive, like some of the stuff over 20 yrs. old.

Got bottles of the 10 and 20 year old!

Gonna crack open the 10 year next weekend. Havent had a proper day off in 2 weeks. Going to pair it with a nice PSD4.

[paulF]

Tried a beer infused port this weekend! To my surprise, it was really nice!

It had the first impression of a not too sweet port and the finish of a crisp beer! No cigars were available at the time though

Cheers